Birthday present: 100-year-old Davison Township woman gets day named in her honor

DAVISON TWP, MI -- It took Nina Mae Williams 36,525 days to get one named in her honor.

The 100-year-old Davison Township resident and Missouri native whose husband was one of the Sit-Down strikers in 1936-37 has had today, April 24, memorialized as "Nina Mae Williams Day" by township officials.

“Not only are Centenarians a living link to our history, they are valued members of our families and communities,” reads a proclamation from township officials.

Born in Missouri in 1914, Williams said her family decided to pick up and move from Essex, Mo., a postage stamp sized-town of a little more than 400 people, to Flint in 1922.

“It was so different, because I had never seen snow before,” she recalled, stepping off the train and into a new world. “When we got off the train in the Flint Depot, we saw snow for the first time.”

Oscar Warren, Nina’s father, pulled from a field where he was planting corn when Dora gave birth, moved the family to the area where his sister lived and took a job with General Motors’ Plant 4 in Flint where he worked on the assembly line for more than 40 years. He purchased the family’s first vehicle, a Chevy Touring, in 1924.

Nina was one of eight children -- four boys and four girls -- two of which died when they were young, and of which she is the only child still alive. She attended Hoover School until the 8th grade, as far as children could attend school in the building, although Williams went back for an extra year to assist in the classroom.

She was around 17 years old when her gaze fell upon Lannie Williams during Sunday school at First General Baptist Church.

“After we started dating, I found out he lived a block from us and worked in a grocery store next door,” laughed Nina. The couple married a few years later, when Nina was 20 years old.

She ran a beautician’s shop inside Hurley Hospital for a few years; before she started her own styling business at the family’s Bristol Road home and operated for 40 years after Barbara White was born, the first of the couple’s three children, including Kenneth Williams and Janice Bennett.

Lannie had taken a job at Fisher Body and took part in the Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37 that started Dec. 30 and stretched 44 days until GM recognized the United Auto Workers as the collective bargaining agent for hourly workers.

At one point during the strike, Lannie was carried out of the plant after being doused with water after workers clashed with police in January 1937 when they attempted to retake control of the Fisher Body No. 2.

“He got sick. When they were stuck in the plan,” said Cindy White, Barbara’s daughter, with Lannie coming down with pneumonia and not returning until after the strike was done. “They had to hoist him up and out a window.”

Nina said Lannie, who called her “his angel,” retired from GM following 42 years with company, after which they became snow birds, traveling back and forth to St. Cloud, Fla. before switching their destination to Tennessee during the harsh Michigan winters.

The couple stayed by each other’s sides for 59 years until Lannie was moved into Briarwood, a health care center in Flint Township, for five months until his death in 2000 following a bout with Alzheimer’s disease.

“He didn’t have a mean bone in his body,” recalled Cindy White, while talking about how proud Lannie and Nina were of their nine grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. Nina has also had to overcome personal adversity, battling through bouts of ovarian cancer and colon cancer, having nine inches of her colon removed on Halloween 2011 and exited the hospital Christmas Eve.

In looking to do something special for Nina, Kenneth undertook the same task of seeking and receiving letters from state and federal officials as he did for Lannie’s 90th birthday.

Letters have poured in to congratulate Nina on her 100 years, from Congressman Dan Kildee, Sen. Carl Levin, state Rep. Pam Faris, Gov. Rick Snyder, state Sen. Dave Robertson, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

“Over the course of a century, you have made extraordinary memories and woven your own unique story into the American narrative,” reads the letter dated April 2 from the Obamas that include a picture of the president.

“You are part of a generation who summoned the compassion and strength to guide our Nation through some of our greatest challenges and triumphs, and we trust you take pride in your contributions to the life of our country,” state the letter.

For those who have a sweet tooth, her morning diet of hot chocolate and donuts, of which Nina said “It doesn’t make a difference” what kind may give some hope against doctor’s wishes, along with her recent switch to root beer from Coca-Cola after 80 years.

When asked for some details on living a long life, Nina said, “I never drank and never smoked and I’ve served the Lord for a number of years.”